Tag: creative writing

Flash Fiction, tutto e niente

Finally

Tina Stewart Brakebill

The house was quiet.

Finally.

The loud click of the lock had echoed in her mind for just a moment as she shut out the last of the stragglers. But the constant stream of words had stopped.

Finally.

No more kind-hearted souls urging her to “eat something.” No more obsequious parishioners offering her sympathy and prayers. No more polite policeman asking stupid questions. No more of his exacting demands for unattainable perfection. No more of her internal screams of anguish. No more.

Finally.

She gazed out the window. His final view offering her an open road to the future.

Finally.  

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

The attempts at unblocking my writer’s block seems to be have channeled me to the dark side! Thanks Rochelle and Sandra for the inspiration for this 100 word ode to revenge or maybe regret or possibly hope. The reader can decide. Visit her site for more info on the Friday Fictioneers challenge. 

19 September 2025

 

 

Haiku & Other Poetry, tutto e niente

reflections on a creative block

Tina Stewart Brakebill

alone with my thoughts 

blank ripples on the white space

the canvas whispers

sweet nothings to nobody 

my solitude unbroken

Claude Monet. The Studio Boat (Le Bateau-atelier), 1876, Oil on canvas.

Today’s challenge from dVerse asks us to do either of the below:

  1. You may write an ekphrastic poem inspired by Claude Monet’s “The Studio Boat.” Your poem does not need to include anything about reflecting or reflections, but it can. AND/OR
  2. You may write a poem on reflection, whatever that means to you—self-reflection, reflection on time’s passing, a reflection in a pool of water, etc.

I’ve been struggling with a bit of writers/creative block so this is my reflection on that unsettling feeling.

Visit the dVerse page for more info on the prompt:

Poetics: Reflections, Reflecting
Flash Fiction, tutto e niente

Gran’s Tampa Totems Table

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Everyone was so busy reminding the grands about shady web threats and unknown numbers, they forgot that old men still answer their doors for young girls.

Her patter felt smooth as he ushered her inside.

Then she saw it. Her gran’s Tampa Totems Table.

She knew it wasn’t. Gran’s totems were gone. Like her.

Still, she faltered. Memories flooded in. What would Gran say if she saw her now?

It took only a moment to recover her flow, as she remembered Gran’s final words: “Smile. And don’t forget. Men are all the same. Stroke a mark’s ego and he’s yours.”  

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Thanks to Rochelle and Friday Fictioners for the inspiration to write after an extended break. Visit her site for more creative writings.       

6 December 2024